Superstitions began long ago with primitive man, who was
looking for answers to natural phenomena such as lightning, thunder, eclipses,
birth and death. Since he lacked knowledge of the laws of nature, he developed a
belief in unseen spirits. He observed the animals and their seemingly sixth
sense when it came to awareness of danger and imagined that spirits were
whispering secret warnings to them. And since his daily existence was full of so
many hardships, he assumed the world was populated with more vengeful spirits
than with beneficent ones. That would explain why most superstitious beliefs
involve ways to protect ourselves from evil. To protect himself in such an
uncertain world, ancient man adopted various superstitious rituals in an effort
to impose human will on chaos.
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THE FIRST SUPERSTITIOUS
BELIEFS |
50,000 Years Ago |
Western Asia |
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Archeologists believe it was Neanderthal man who produced
the first superstitious (and spiritual) beliefs as far back as 50,000 years ago.
They were apparently the first humans to bury their dead rather than just
abandoning them. They obviously believed in an afterlife as they buried their
loved ones with ritual funerals and interred the bodies with food, weapons and
fire charcoals for use in the afterlife.
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HARE'S/RABBIT'S FOOT |
Pre-600 B.C. |
Western Europe |
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The origins of the tradition that carrying the foot of a
rabbit is lucky go back many centuries. The luck attributed to the foot derives
from a belief, rooted in ancient totemism, that man descended from animals. Each
tribe was believed to have descended from a separate species and the tribe
worshipped and refrained from killing its ancestral animal, employing parts of
that animal as amulets or totems. We don't know the identity of the "Hare"
tribal society that gave the world the rabbit foot amulet.
The rabbit's habit of burrowing gave it an aura of
mystery. The Celts believed it spent so much time underground because it was in
secret communication with spirits of the netherworld. The fact they are born
with their eyes open, unlike most species, imbued them with an image of wisdom.
Actually, there was a great deal of confusion among people
about hares and rabbits. The two animals seem to have been used interchangeably
when talking about the lucky totem. For example, the rabbit burrows while hares
live aboveground. And it's the hare that's born with open eyes, rabbits are born
blind.
The animal's fecundity helped to give its body parts their
strongest association with good luck and prosperity. It was so prolific that
early humans regarded it an outstanding example of everything that is
procreative in nature. To possess any part of a rabbit assured a person's good
fortune. But the foot was considered luckier than any other body part. Early man
incorporated the foot as a phallic symbol in his cave drawings and sculpture, a
totem to foster fertility in women and a bountiful harvest in the field.
We can still see the remains of totemism in today's
world. There are bulls and bears on Wall Street, sports teams have mascots
thought to bring good luck, hawks and doves abound in government, and elephants
and donkeys populate the political arena.
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HORSESHOE |
Fourth Century A.D. |
Greece |
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The Greeks introduced the horseshoe to Western culture in
the 4th Century and believed it was a symbol of good luck. Its magical powers
stemmed from the fact that horseshoes are made of iron, an element believed to
ward off evil and they are shaped like the crescent moon, a symbol of fertility
and good fortune. The Romans appropriated the horseshoe both as an equestrian
device and a talisman. In time their pagan belief in its magical powers was
passed on to the Christians, who gave it their own twist.
However, the belief that a horseshoe hung above a house
door provided protection against evil is believed to have originated with St.
Dunstan. Dunstan was a blacksmith by trade who became Archbishop of Canterbury
in A.D. 959. One day while working at his forge, he was approached by a man who
asked that horseshoes be attached to his feet, which were suspiciously cloven.
Dunstan immediately recognized his customer as Satan and explained that in order
to do this he would have to shackle the man to the wall. Dunstan deliberately
made the job excruciatingly painful and the bound devil begged for
mercy. Dunstan refused to release him until he gave his solemn oath never to
enter a house where a horseshoe was displayed above the door.
From then on Christians held horseshoes in high esteem. At
first they placed them above the doorframe of their houses. The horseshoe had to
be hung with its points upward, lest its luck drain out. Later it was moved down
to the middle of the door, where it served the dual purpose of talisman and door
knocker. Thus, the horseshoe shaped door knocker. Christians once celebrated St.
Dunstan's feast day (May 19) with games of horseshoes.
Witches And Horseshoes: The horseshoe
assumed additional power in the Middle Ages when the fear of witchcraft was at
its peak. It was believed that witches traveled on brooms because they feared
horses, and that any reminder of a horse, especially its iron shoe, warded off a
witch. A woman accused of witchcraft was interred with a horseshoe nailed atop
her coffin to prevent resurrection. In Russia a blacksmith who forged horseshoes
was imbued with the ability to perform "white magic" against witchery, and
solemn oaths pertaining to marriage, business contracts, and real estate
transactions were taken upon the anvils used to hammer out horseshoes.
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WISHBONE |
Pre-400 B.C. |
Etruria |
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The wishbone custom
began with the Etruscans. They believed both the hen and the cock to be
"soothsayers". The hen because her squawk foretold the laying of an egg; the
cock because his crow heralded the dawn of a new day.
The "hen oracle" was
consulted for answers to life's most pressing problems. A circle was
traced on the ground and divided into about twenty parts, representing letters
of the Etruscan alphabet. Grains of corn were placed in each sector, and a
sacred hen was set in the center of the circle. Her pecking at the corn
generated a sequence of letters, which a high priest interpreted as answers to
specific questions.
When a sacred fowl
was killed, the bird's collarbone was laid in the sun to dry. An Etruscan
wishing to benefit from the powers of the oracle would pick up the bone and
stroke (not break) it while making a wish; hence the name "wishbone."
Etruscans wished on
unbroken clavicles for more than two centuries, which we know from the Romans,
who later adopted many Etruscan ways. According to Roman legend, the Etruscans
chose the V-shaped clavicle as the wishbone because it resembles the human
crotch and was a symbol of the repository of life. Roman writings theorize that
the later practice of two people tugging at a wishbone for the larger half
probably arose due to a simple case of supply and demand: there were too few
sacred bones and too many people wishing for favors.
It was the Romans who
brought the wishbone superstition to England. Breaking the dried clavicle of a
chicken was well established as a British tradition by the time the Pilgrims
reached the New World. Observing that the wild turkeys which populated the
wooded northeastern shores of America have clavicles similar to those of
chickens, the Pilgrims adapted the wishbone custom to the turkey, making it part
of Thanksgiving festivities. Thus, an ancient Etruscan superstition has became
part of an American celebration (by way of Rome and England).
We've inherited more
than the Etruscan wishbone superstition. Etymologists claim that the expression
"get a lucky break" initially applied to the person winning the larger half in a
wishbone tug-of-war.
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KNOCKING ON WOOD |
2000 B. C. |
North America |
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Children who play
tree tag, in which touching a tree signifies safety, are enacting a
4,000-year-old custom begun by the Indians of North America. In the modern
game, the base of any tree serves as a safe haven. Historically the tree to
touch was an oak, which was venerated for its strength, stately height, and
supernatural powers. And when a person today expresses a hopeful prediction and
superstitiously knocks wood, traditionally the wood should only be oak.
Cults surrounding the
oak tree are ancient. They sprang up independently among the North American
Indians around 2000 B.C. and later among the Greeks. Both cultures, observing
that the oak was struck frequently by lightning, assumed it was the dwelling
place of the sky god (the Indians) and the god of lightning (the early Greeks).
The North American
Indians carried their superstitious belief one step further. They believed that
boasting about a future personal accomplishment, battle victory, or bountiful
harvest was bad luck, a virtual guarantee the event would never happen. A boast,
deliberate or inadvertent, could be neutralized from retribution by knocking on
the base of an oak tree. In effect, the person was contacting the sky god,
seeking forgiveness.
During the Middle
Ages, European Christian scholars postulated that the knock wood superstition
had originated in the 1st Century A.D. and stemmed from Christ's crucifixion on
a wooden cross. They argued that knocking wood in a hopeful manner was
synonymous with a prayer of supplication, such as: "Lord, let my wish come
true." However, modern scholars claim there is no truth to this belief. The
Catholic veneration of wooden crucifix relics did not originate the custom of
regarding wood with awe; rather, it mimicked, modified, and reinforced a much
older, pagan view.
In America, our
custom of knocking on wood to keep a boast from boomeranging descended not from
the homegrown American Indian superstition, but from the later Greek belief,
passed on to the Romans and then to the Britons. In time, when oak was not
conveniently at hand, a rap on any type of wood sufficed. And in today's high
tech world, the knock wood superstition persists, even though real wood of any
kind is often not within arm's reach. And, as often as not, people say the words
"Knock on wood" but make no attempt to perform the actual knocking ritual.
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FOUR-LEAF CLOVER |
200 B. C. |
British Isles |
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More than any other
factor, the rarity of the four-leaf clover (normally, the clover is a three-leaf
plant) made it sacred to the sun-worshiping Druid priests of ancient England.
Our information on the origin of this good luck charm (as well as on other
beliefs and behaviors of that learned class of Celts who acted as priests,
teachers, and judges) comes mainly from the writings of Julius Caesar and from
Irish legend.
The Druids, whose
Celtic name, dereu-wid, means "oak-wise" or "knowing the oak tree,"
frequented oak forests as worshiping grounds. They believed that a person in
possession of a four-leaf clover could sight ambient demons and through
incantations thwart their sinister influence.
Several times a year,
Druids assembled in sacred oak forests throughout the British Isles and Gaul.
There they settled legal disputes and offered human sacrifices for any person
who was gravely ill or in danger of death from forthcoming battle. Huge wicker
cages filled with men were burned. Though Druid priests preferred to sacrifice
criminals, during periods when criminals were scarce they incinerated the
innocent. The immortality of the soul, and its transferal after death to a
newborn, was one of their principal religious doctrines. Before terminating the
forest ritual, Druids collected sprigs of mistletoe (believed to be capable of
maintaining harmony within families) and scouted for rare clover.
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CROSSING FINGERS |
Pre-Christian Era |
Western Europe |
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If you cross your
fingers when making a wish, or if you tell a friend, "Keep your fingers
crossed," you're partaking of an ancient custom that originally required the
participation of two people, intersecting index fingers.
The popular gesture
grew out of the pagan belief that a cross was a symbol of perfect unity; and
that its point of intersection marked the dwelling place of beneficent spirits.
A wish made on a cross was supposed to be anchored steadfastly at the cross's
intersection until that desire was realized. The superstition was popular among
many early European cultures.
Originally, in
crossing fingers for good luck, the index finger of a well wisher was placed
over the index finger of the person expressing the wish, the two fingers forming
a cross. While one person wished, the other offered mental support to expedite
the desire. As time passed, the rigors of the custom eased and a person could
wish without the assistance of an associate. It sufficed merely to cross the
index and the middle fingers to form an X, the Scottish cross of St. Andrew.
Over time the ancient
custom of the "crossed fingers" of friends degenerated to a wisher crossing his
own fingers and finally to today's expression "I'll keep my fingers crossed,"
with the well wisher never actually doing so, and no one expecting him or her
to. What was once deliberate and symbolic has become reflexive and
insignificant—though not obsolete.
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THUMBS UP/THUMBS DOWN |
500 B.C. |
Etruria |
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Today a "thumbs up"
gesture is an expression of approval, courage, or stick-to-itiveness. But to a
4th Century B.C. Etruscan gladiator, it meant something more: literally, "Spare
his life." And whereas "thumbs down" today suggests disapproval, in Etruscan
times the disapproval was invariably terminal.
While the meaning of
the Etruscan "rule of the thumb" was adopted by the Romans and is the proximate
origin of our modern gesture, the Egyptians also developed a thumb language with
meanings closer to our own. The Egyptian "thumbs up" signified hope or victory,
while "thumbs down" meant ill will or defeat.
Why, though, in these cultures did the thumb become the signaling finger?
Roman historians in
the time of Julius Caesar offered the following explanation for the gestures.
They observed that an infant often enters the world with its thumbs tucked
within clutched fists. As the baby gradually responds to stimuli in its
environment, the hands slowly unfold, releasing the thumbs upward. As if to come
full circle, at the time of death the hands often contract, enclosing the down
turned thumbs. Thus, to the Romans, "thumbs up" became an affirmation of life,
"thumbs down" a signal for death.
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BREAKING A MIRROR |
1st Century A.D. |
Rome |
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Breaking a mirror, one of the most widespread bad luck superstitions still in
existence, originated long before glass mirrors existed. The belief arose out of
a combination of religious and economic factors.
The first mirrors,
used by the ancient Egyptians, the Hebrews, and the Greeks, were made of
polished metals such as brass, bronze, silver, and gold, and were unbreakable.
By the 6th Century B.C., the Greeks had begun a mirror practice of divination
called catoptromancy, which employed shallow glass or earthenware bowls
filled with water. Much like a gypsy's crystal ball, a glass water bowl—a
miratorium to the Romans— was supposed to reveal the future of any person
who cast his or her image on the reflective surface. The prognostications were
read by a "mirror seer." If one of these mirrors slipped and broke, the seer's
interpretation was that either the person holding the bowl had no future
(because he or she would soon die) or the future held events so dreadful the
gods were kindly sparing the person a glimpse of their fate.
The Romans adopted
this bad luck superstition in the 1st Century A.D. and added their own twist—our
modern meaning. They maintained that a person's health changed in cycles of
seven years. Since mirrors reflect a person's appearance (that is, health), a
broken mirror augured seven years of ill health and misfortune.
The superstition
acquired a practical, economic application in 15th Century Italy. The first
breakable sheet glass mirrors with silver-coated backing were manufactured in
Venice at that time. Being very costly, they were handled with great care.
Servants who cleaned the mirrors in the homes of the wealthy were frequently and
emphatically warned that breaking one of these treasures invited seven years of
a fate worse than death. Such effective use of the superstition served to
intensify the bad luck belief for generations of Europeans. By the time
inexpensive mirrors were being manufactured in England and France in the
mid-1600s, the broken mirror superstition was widespread and firmly rooted in
tradition.
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NUMBER 13 |
Pre-Christian Era |
Scandinavia |
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Surveys show that of
all bad luck superstitions, unease surrounding the number 13 is the one that
affects most people today—and in almost countless ways. The French, for
instance, never issue the house address 13. In Italy, the national lottery omits
the number 13. National and international airlines skip the 13th row of seats on
planes. In America, modern skyscrapers, condominiums, co-ops, and apartment
buildings label the floor that follows 12 as 14. In the 1980's a psychological
experiment was conducted to test the potency of the superstition: A new luxury
apartment building, with a floor temporarily numbered 13, rented units on all
other floors, but only a few units on the 13th floor. When the floor number was
changed to 12-B, the vacant apartments were quickly rented.
How did this fear of
the number 13, known as triskaidekaphobia, originate?
The concept goes back
to Norse mythology in the pre-Christian era. There was a banquet at Valhalla, to
which 12 gods were invited. Loki, the spirit of strife and evil, crashed the
party, thereby raising the number in attendance to 13. In the ensuing struggle
to evict Loki, Balder, the favorite of the gods, was killed.
Norse God Balder
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This is one of the
earliest
written references to misfortune surrounding the number 13. From
Scandinavia, the superstition spread south throughout Europe. By the dawn of the
Christian era, it was well established in countries along the Mediterranean.
Then, folklorists claim, the belief was resoundingly reinforced by history's
most famous meal: the Last Supper. Christ and his apostles numbered 13. Less
than 24 hours after the meal, Christ was crucified.
Mythologists believe
the Norse legend predates the Christian banquet. They draw parallels between the
traitor Judas and Loki, the spirit of strife; and between Balder, the favorite
god who was slain, and Christ, who was crucified. What is indisputable is that
from the early Christian era onward, to invite 13 guests for dinner was firmly
believed to court disaster.
As is true with any
superstition, once a belief is laid down, people search, consciously or
unconsciously, for events to fit the forecast. In 1798, for instance, a British
publication, Gentlemen's Magazine, fueled the 13 superstition by quoting
actuarial tables of the day, which revealed that, on average, one out of every
13 people in a room would die within the year. Earlier and later actuarial
tables undoubtedly would have given different figures. However, for many Britons
at the time, it seemed science had validated superstition.
Ironically, 13 should
be viewed as a lucky number in America. It is part of many of our national
symbols. On the back of the U.S. dollar bill, the incomplete pyramid has 13
steps; the bald eagle clutches in one claw an olive branch with 13 leaves and 13
berries, and in the other he grasps 13 arrows; there are13 stars above the
eagle's head. Of course, all of this has nothing to do with superstition, but
commemorates the country's original 13 colonies.
Friday the 13th: Efforts to account
for this unluckiest of days have focused on disastrous events alleged to have
occurred on it. Tradition has it that on Friday the 13th:
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Eve tempted Adam with the apple;
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Noah's ark set sail in the Great Flood;
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a confusion of tongues struck at the Tower of Babel;
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the Temple of Solomon toppled;
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the Paris Temple of
the Knights Templar was stormed and overrun by soldiers of King Philip IV;
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Christ died on the cross.
The actual origin of
the superstition appears to be yet another tale from Norse mythology. Friday is
named for Frigga, who was the free spirited goddess of love and fertility. When
Norse and Germanic tribes converted to Christianity, Frigga was labeled a witch
and banished in shame to a mountaintop. It was believed that every Friday, the
spiteful goddess convened a meeting with 11 other witches, plus the devil—for a
total of 13—and plotted evil or disastrous events for the upcoming week. For
many centuries in Scandinavia, Friday was called the "Witches' Sabbath."
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BLACK CAT |
Middle Ages |
England |
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As superstitions go,
fear of a black cat crossing one's path is of relatively recent origin. It is
also entirely the opposite of the revered place once held by the cat when it was
first domesticated in Egypt, around 3000 B.C.
All cats, including
black ones, were held in high esteem among the ancient Egyptians and protected
by law from injury and death. So strong was cat idolatry that a pet's death was
mourned by the entire family; and both rich and poor embalmed the bodies of
their cats in exquisite fashion, wrapping them in fine linen and placing them in
mummy cases made of precious materials such as bronze and even wood—a scarcity
in Egypt. Archaeologists have unearthed entire cat cemeteries, with mummified
black cats commonplace.
Impressed by the way
a cat could survive numerous high falls unscathed, it was the Egyptians who
originated the belief that cats have nine lives.
The cat's popularity
quickly spread through various civilizations. Sanskrit writings more than 2,000
years old speak of cats' roles in Indian society; and in China about 500 B.C.,
Confucius had a favorite pet cat. About A.D. 600, the prophet Muhammad preached
with a cat in his arms, and at approximately the same time, the Japanese began
to keep cats in their pagodas to protect sacred manuscripts. In those centuries,
a cat crossing a person's path was a sign of good luck.
So how did an animal
once looked on with high esteem and love become a creature to be dreaded and
despised?
During the Middle
Ages the dread of cats, especially black cats, first arose in Europe,
particularly in England. The cat's characteristic independence, willfulness, and
stealth, coupled with its sudden overpopulation in major cities, contributed to
its fall from grace. Alley cats were often fed by poor, lonely old ladies, and
when witch hysteria struck Europe, and many of these homeless women were accused
of practicing black magic, their cat companions (especially black ones) were
deemed guilty of witchery by association.
One popular tale from
British lore illustrates the thinking of the day. In Lincolnshire in the 1560s,
a father and his son were frightened one moonless night when a small creature
darted across their path into a crawl space. Hurling stones into the opening,
they saw an injured black cat scurry out and limp into the adjacent home of a
woman suspected by the town of being a witch. Next day, the father and son
encountered the woman on the street. Her face was bruised, her arm bandaged. And
she now walked with a limp. From that day on in Lincolnshire, all black cats
were suspected of being witches in night disguise. The lore persisted. The
notion of witches transforming themselves into black cats in order to prowl
streets unobserved became a central belief in America during the Salem witch
hunts.
Many societies in the
late Middle Ages attempted to drive cats into extinction. As the witch scare
mounted and became hysteria and paranoia, many innocent women and their harmless
pets were burned at the stake. A baby born with eyes too bright, a face too
canny, a personality too precocious, was sacrificed for fear it hosted a spirit
that would in time become a witch by day and a black cat by night. In France,
thousands of cats were burned every month until King Louis XIII halted the
shameful practice in the 1630's. Given the number of centuries in which black
cats were slaughtered throughout Europe, it is surprising that the gene for the
color black was not completely eliminated from the species . . . unless . . .
maybe the cat really does possess nine lives?
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FLIPPING A COIN |
1st Century B.C. |
Rome |
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In ancient times,
people believed the gods should make major life decisions. And they devised
ingenious forms of divination to coax gods to answer important questions with an
unequivocal "yes" or "no." Although coins—ideally suited for yes/no
responses—were first minted by the Lydians in the 10th Century B.C., they were
not initially used for decision making.
It was Julius Caesar,
900 years later, who instituted the heads/tails coin flipping practice. Caesar's
own head appeared on one side of every Roman coin, and consequently it was a
head—specifically that of Caesar—that in a coin flip determined the winner of a
dispute or indicated an affirmative response from the gods.
Such was the
reverence for Caesar that serious litigation, involving property, marriage, or
criminal guilt, often was settled by the flip of a coin. Caesar's head landing
upright meant that the emperor, in absentia, agreed with a particular decision
and opposed the alternative.
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SPILLING SALT |
3500 B.C. |
Near East |
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Salt was man's first
food seasoning. It so dramatically altered his eating habits that it's not
surprising that spilling the precious ingredient became tantamount to bad luck.
Following an
accidental spilling of salt, a superstitious nullifying gesture such as throwing
a pinch of it over the left shoulder became a practice of the ancient Sumerians,
the Egyptians, the Assyrians, and later the Greeks. For the Romans, salt was so
highly prized as a seasoning for food and a medication for wounds that they
coined expressions utilizing the word, which have become part of our language.
The Roman writer Petronius, in the Satyricon, originated "not worth his
salt" as a derogative term for Roman soldiers, who were given special allowances
for salt rations, called solarium—"salt money"—the origin of our word
"salary."
Archaeologists know
that by 6500 B.C., people living in Europe were actively mining what are thought
to be the first salt mines discovered on the continent, the Hallstein and
Hallstatt deposits in Austria. Today these caves are tourist attractions,
situated near the town of Salzburg, which of course means "City of Salt." Salt
purified water, preserved meat and fish, and enhanced the taste of food, and the
Hebrews, the Greeks, and the Romans used salt in all their major sacrifices.
The veneration of
salt, and the foreboding that followed its spilling, is poignantly captured in
Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper. Judas has spilled the table salt,
foreshadowing the tragedy—Jesus' betrayal—that was to follow. While historically
there is no evidence of salt having been spilled at the Last Supper. Leonardo
incorporated the widespread superstition into his interpretation to further
dramatize the scene. The classic painting thus contains two references to
unlucky omens: the spilling of salt, and 13 guests at a table.
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WALKING UNDER A LADDER |
3000
B.C. |
Egypt |
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This is one
superstition whose origins would appear to be based on the obvious and
practical: walking under a ladder should be avoided since a tool dropped by a
workman could become lethal.
However, the true
origin of the superstition has nothing to do with practicality. A ladder leaning
against a wall forms a triangle, long regarded by many societies as the most
common expression of a sacred trinity of gods. The pyramid tombs of the pharaohs
were based on triangular planes. In fact, for a commoner to pass through a
triangulated arch was tantamount to defiance of a sanctified space.
To the Egyptians, the
ladder itself was a symbol of good luck. It was a ladder that rescued the sun
god Osiris from imprisonment by the spirit of Darkness. The ladder was also a
favorite pictorial sign to illustrate the ascent of gods. And ladders were
placed in the tombs of Egyptian kings to help them climb heavenward.
Centuries later,
followers of Christianity usurped the ladder superstition, interpreting it in
light of Christ's death—a
ladder had rested against the crucifix so it became a symbol of wickedness,
betrayal, and death. Walking under a ladder courted misfortune. In England and
France in the 1600s, criminals on their way to the gallows were compelled to
walk under a ladder, while the executioner, called the Groom of the Ladder,
walked around it.
Ancient cultures
invariably had antidotes to their most feared superstitions. For a person who
inadvertently walked under a ladder, or who was forced to do so for convenience
of passage, the prescribed Roman antidote was the nullifying sign of the fico.
This gesture was made by closing the fist and allowing the thumb to protrude
between the index and middle fingers. The fist was then thrust forward at the
ladder. The fico was also a Roman phallic gesture and is believed to be
the precursor of the extended middle finger, whose accompanying incantation is
not all that different in sound from fico.
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COVERING A YAWN |
Antiquity |
Middle East |
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Today, covering the
mouth when yawning is considered simply good manners. But the original custom
stemmed not from politeness but from fear—a fear that in one giant exhalation
the soul, and life itself, might depart the body. A hand to the lips held back
the life force.
Ancient man had
observed that newborns, struggling to survive, yawn shortly after birth (a
reflexive response to draw additional oxygen into the lungs). With infant
mortality extraordinarily high, early physicians, at a loss to account for
frequent deaths, blamed the yawn. The helpless baby simply could not cover its
mouth with a protective hand. Roman physicians actually recommended that a
mother be particularly vigilant during the early months of life and cover any of
her newborn's yawns.
Today it is also
considered good manners when yawning to turn one's head. But courtesy had
nothing to do with the origin of this custom either, nor with the apology that
follows a yawn. Ancient man had also accurately observed that a yawn is
contagious to witnesses. Thus, if a yawn was dangerous to the yawner, this
danger could be "caught" by others, like the plague. The apology was for
exposing friends to mortal danger.
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STORK BRINGING BABIES |
Antiquity |
Scandinavia |
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To account for the
sudden appearance of a new baby in a household, Scandinavian mothers used to
tell their children that a stork brought it. And to account for the mother's
much needed bed rest, the children were told that before the bird departed, it
bit the mother's leg.
The need to offer
young children some explanation for the arrival of a new baby (especially in a
time when infants were born at home) is understandable. But why a stork?
Early Scandinavian
naturalists had studied storks and their nesting habits on home chimney stacks.
The birds, in their long, 70-year life span, returned to the same chimney year
after year, and they mated monogamously. Young adult birds lavished great
attention and care on elderly or infirm parents, feeding them and offering their
extended wings for support. In fact, the ancient Romans, impressed with the
stork's altruistic behavior, passed legislation called Lex Ciconaria, the
"Stork's Law," compelling children to care for their aged parents. The Greeks
were equally impressed. Their term storge, the origin of our word
"stork," means "strong natural affection."
Thus, the stork's
gentleness, along with the convenience of its nesting in a home's chimney, made
it an ideal creature to deliver a new arrival down the chimney. For centuries,
the old Norse legend was popular throughout Scandinavia. It was 19th Century
Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen, through his fairy tales, who popularized
the myth worldwide.
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EVIL EYE,
THE |
Antiquity |
Near East And Europe |
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It has been found in
virtually all cultures. In ancient Rome, professional sorcerers with the evil
eye were hired to bewitch a person's enemies. All gypsies were accused of
possessing the stare. And the phenomenon was widespread and dreaded throughout
India and the Near East. By the Middle Ages, Europeans were so fearful of
falling under the influence of an evil glance that any person with a dazed,
crazed, or canny look was liable to be burned at the stake. A case of cataracts
could spell death.
How did such a belief
originate independently among so many different peoples?
One of the most
commonly accepted theories among folklorists involves the phenomenon of pupil
reflection: If you look into a person's eyes, your own minuscule image will
appear in the dark of the pupil. And indeed, our word "pupil" comes from the
Latin pupilla, meaning "little doll."
Early man must have
found it strange and frightening to glimpse his own image in miniature in the
eyes of other tribesmen. He may have believed himself to be in personal danger,
fearing that his likeness might lodge permanently in, and be stolen by, an evil
eye. This notion is reinforced by the belief among primitive African tribes that
to be photographed was to permanently lose one's soul.
The Egyptians had a
curious antidote to an evil stare—kohl, history's first mascara. Worn by both
men and women, it was applied in a circle or oval about the eyes. The chemical
base was antimony, a metal, and while soothsayers prepared the compound for men
to smear on, women concocted their own antimony formulas, adding preferred
secret ingredients.
Why should mascara be an evil eye antidote? No one
is certain, but darkly painted circles around the eyes absorb sunlight and
consequently minimize reflected glare into the eye. The phenomenon is familiar
to every football and baseball player who has smeared black grease under each
eye before a game. The early Egyptians, spending considerable time in harsh
desert sunlight, may have discovered this secret and devised mascara not
primarily for beautifying purposes but for practical and superstitious ones.
Some common
expression derived from fears of the evil eye include: "a dirty look," "a
withering glance," "if looks could kill," and "to stare with daggers".
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OPENING UMBRELLA INDOORS |
18th Century |
England |
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Bad luck
superstitions surrounding the umbrella began as far back as the Egyptians. Their
early umbrellas were not designed to protect against rain, but rather serve as
shades against the blistering heat of the sun. These umbrellas were intricately
designed of papyrus and peacock feathers and imbued with religious significance.
The Egyptians
believed that the canopy of the sky was formed by the body of the celestial
goddess Nut whose torso spanned the planet like a vast umbrella, with only her
toes and fingertips actually touching the earth. Their man made umbrellas were
regarded as an earthly embodiment of Nut, and were only held above the
heads of nobility. The shade cast by an umbrella outdoors was considered sacred;
for a commoner to even accidentally step into it was considered sacrilegious, a
harbinger of bad luck. (The Babylonians, on the other hand, deemed it an honor
to have even a foot fall into the umbra of the king's sunshade.)
Folklorists claim
that the superstitious belief that opening an umbrella indoors augurs misfortune
has a more recent and utilitarian origin. In 18th Century London, when
metal-spoked waterproof umbrellas began to become common, their stiff, clumsy
spring mechanism made them veritable hazards to open indoors. A rigidly spoked
umbrella, opening suddenly in a small room, could seriously injure an adult or a
child, or shatter a frangible object. Even a minor accident could provoke
unpleasant words or a serious quarrel, themselves strokes of bad luck in a
family or among friends. Thus, the superstition arose as a deterrent to opening
an umbrella indoors.
Today the umbrella
superstition has again been altered. It's really no longer considered bad luck
to open an umbrella indoors (though it still presents a danger). Rather, on a
morning when rain is in the forecast, one superstitious way to assure dry skies
throughout the day is to leave home carrying an umbrella. Conversely, leaving
the umbrella at home guarantees getting caught in a downpour.
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3
CIGARETTES ON 1 MATCH |
Date Uncertain |
Eastern Europe |
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There are a couple of theories for the origin of the
superstition that lighting three cigarettes on the same match is unlucky. One is
that it originated in Eastern Europe in connection with the funeral service in
the Russian church, in which three altar candles are lit with one taper. The
Russians regarded it as sacrilegious and impious to make any other lights in
groups of three. Thus the superstition that ill luck will befall anybody
who lights three cigarettes with the same match, or anybody who even accepts
such a light.
The other theory is that this superstition originated
during World War I. It is said to have arisen from the very real danger that
keeping a match lit in the trenches long enough to light three cigarettes might
attract the enemy's attention as well as give him enough time to aim.
Conversely, if a match was extinguished quickly after lighting only one or two
cigarettes, the enemy would not have sufficient time to direct his fire. This
superstition was common for at least 20 years after World War I.
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Page 2
Fun Trivia
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Page 3
Customs
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